Back at Jervis Bay: a fishy type of day

 

Sunset at Green Patch beach

In accordance with plans made yesterday to dive at Jervis Bay - an occurrence easier to arrange than diving at Ulladulla - I packed up my car and met Sue from Crest Diving at Hyam's Beach - not her favourite spot, but in strong westerly winds, it offered a millpond.  

Sue gave be an extensive briefing of what we would do, we did the required paperwork and I did have to comment on the necessity to fill in spaces for both the year I qualified as a diver and the number of years I have been diving:  I would have assumed that one could be deduced from the other.  The difficult question was "how many dives have I done" - seems that 'lots' is not a sufficient answer.  I stopped logging my dives when I hit 300 hours, and much of that 300 hours was deep diving in Tasmanian winters - so 30 minutes under the water.

Sue also double checked/asked me to check many things about my gear that I've not had anyone check on for a long time:  thorough.

The sky was clear and the sun was shining, which partly made up for a serious wind chill factor.  There are a couple of down sides to diving at Hyam's Beach:  one has to walk down a hill (and back up it at the end of the dive) and the white sands so admired by many are SOFT!  And the entry involved sand steps which could be a trap for the unwary.  They also made the exit quite difficult.  

HOWEVER - our 100 minutes in the water more than compensated for this.  There were SOO many fish and SOOO many different species there would have had to be at least 50 species.  Some individuals, some in schools, some tiny, some rather large.

The blue gropers were rather impressive - as much for their size as anything.  And I was rather impressed by a large fiddler ray that must have been more than 1.5 metres long and had the most attractive patterning.  Sue also directed my attention to a crested horn shark sheltering in a crevice - it refused to be drawn out of it's hiding place.  Sue pointed out a large Numb Ray - one of those amazing animals that can deliver a rather noticeable electric shock.  It was well hidden under the sand, and Sue fanned at the sand to uncover it, hoping, I think, that it would swim for us.  It merely wriggled itself deeper into the sand, a bit like someone woken from sleep just turning over and pulling the doona over their head.

I was delighted by the little hula fish, which are quite similar in many ways to the blotch tailed trachinops that I know from Tasmania. I got very excited at my first sighting of an Eastern Talma and its likeness to butterfly fish I have seen in the tropics.  I was also excited by, at first one or two, then later large schools of old wives.  While we see old wives in Tasmania, we see larger ones that are black and white and they tend to be in deeper water.  These were small, brown and white and in shallow water. There was also a single moorish idol amongst them - that was rather a treat.

There were many small stingaree across the sandy patches, of a type I am not familiar with.  Nor was Sue sure of the species.

I saw quite a few scorpion fish - their small appendages above their eyes looking like particularly complex eyelashes.

There were a small number of pygmy leatherjackets which are just so cute.  And so many other fish.

Banksia growing on Murray's beach!!

By the time we had done the preparations and organised gear and dived I was feeling a bit light headed - but it was after 1:30 and we'd covered a lot of ground underwater.  I was a little cold and most appreciative of Sue's gas driven hot shower which was installed in her van - and used outside the van.  Nothing like washing off the salt (and warming my hands up quickly)  I was also appreciative, given the wind chill factor, of dressing in the warmth and shelter of her van.

Back to wash gear and have a hot cuppa and bite to eat and watch Sue hand feed her resident willy wagtail with mealworms.

Murray's Beach.  So overcrowded

So much for my advance plan to dive in the morning and explore more of Booderee Park in the afternoon.  After a quick trip to the shops, I was leaving the Booderee visitor centre at 3:30pm.  

Sunset colours and Venus? rising

The advantage of going to the visitor centre:  I got to choose my campsite, with the advice of the delightful young man behind the desk, and took his suggestion on one he thought would be more sheltered from the prevailing winds.  He also gave me some more information about camping and walks in general, and about the cultural tours available - which I was subsequently able to book for the morning.

I visited Murray's Beach with the intent of also walking to Governor's Head and the lookout on Bowen Island with its penguin colony, but as I chose a more distant access point for the beach, my full plan was not really feasible. 

The baby on my chair!

I contented myself with a walk along the beach, admiring the banksias that were very much encroaching upon the sand,  and returned to Green Patch to get my camp organised in daylight.  I spent quite a few minutes deciding on how I would park the car to get the most shelter from the wind and finished my organisation in time to go down to the beach for the last of the sunset.

My dinner preparation, and post dinner relaxing in my chair (encased in not only my merino and fleece jackets but also my down jacket) was interrupted by a family of possums, including a very curious juvenile.  Between them they they climbed on my chair and my car; they bounced on my awning.

They investigated my table and stove when I went to wash my dinner things. One tried to get into my car and I had a paw print on my trouser where one sneaked up to investigate my leg. As I was ensconcing myself in my sleeping bag, the juvenile spreadeagled itself on my back window. I am hoping they have now gone to bed. They hadn't!